The four M's that make Kenya what it is

The short ride from the Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi to the Chinese-built expressway that heads out towards the main port of Mombasa to the left is enough for a quick peek into the lives of Kenyans defined by the four M’s -- M-pesa, mobile phones, motorcycles, and the big migration.

Along the highways towards the port city and then another that takes us into the central highlands and on to the flatlands of the famous Masai Mara — where the annual migration of millions of wildebeests and zebras attracts thousands of tourists — the colours green and red dot the lazy towns and villages where roadside markets thrive.

The green is for Safaricomm, the telecom company that revolutionised digital payment in Africa through its M-pesa service and controls nearly 65 percent of Kenya’s market.

The red showcases India’s Airtel that has an approximately 25 percent of the mobile market in East Africa’s biggest economy that is riding a huge technological wave that is making it the home of entrepreneurs and strong African start-ups.

Fintech is huge in Kenya. It has raised more than a billion dollars in funding in the past decade. “The roots of M-Pesa are so deeply entrenched into the Kenyan financial ecosystem that nobody, absolutely nobody, can do without them,” says a mail from?weetracker.com, a digital news platform.

The Kenyan fintech is a stack of more than 50 start-ups focused on payments, lending, savings, investments, advance/overdraft, cross-border remittances and online payments,?says the website, adding that Safaricomm – Kenya’s biggest telco – is into all of these.

At a two-day India-Africa Entrepreneur and Investment Summit very few talk about opportunities in the Agri-tech and Edu-tech space. Start-ups launched by young Africans want a me-too ride on something like M-pesa, which they believe can make them rich quickly.

That, in fact, is a matter of concern for some participants. Fintech might be sexy and fetch the funding, but the real long-term opportunity probably lies in Agri-tech as the continent prepares to feed the next billion. In Africa, you need a planter’s mindset, says one participant. On a cloudy, coldish day, there are few takers for that argument in the room.

Meanwhile in the vast hinterland and in Nairobi, the chaotic capital, money runs on mobile phones while zippy motorcycles carry just about everything else from big yellow water containers, firewood, furniture, animals, farm produce and people.

Together, the four Ms form the backbone of an economy that is battling inflationary pressures like many others, and a drought even as it prepares to vote in national elections next month to choose a new president.

Tourism, which?fetched Kenya $1.3 billion?in 2021, is beginning to pick up as animals prepare to cross the Mara river from Serengeti in Tanzania to Kenya’s flat grasslands for their annual migration. Thousands of people, along with crocodiles and lions will be waiting for them.

Millions of wildebeests and zebras will cross over to the Kenyan “honeymoon suite” to trample the savannah grass and mate before heading back to the “maternity ward” in Serengeti where babies will arrive next year, the pilot of our hot-air balloon tells us as we float some 1,500 feet over the Masai Mara national park one early morning.

The air is crisp as the sun rises and 15 passengers in the basket breathe in the fresh air and look down as tiny giraffes, elephants, and other animals crawling in the grass far below.

Suddenly, the pilot decides to descend to check out if he can find some crocodiles around a water body. Finding none, we float up again over the flatlands — lazily, at a speed of about 20 km/hour — heading to our destination in the middle of nowhere for an egg and champagne breakfast!

In August, when Kenyans vote to elect a new president, the Masai Mara would have lost it golden hue — turning dark with millions of bearded wildebeests spread across the vast savannah.

They will vote to choose between widely believed front-runners William Ruto and Raila Odinga, who would decide Kenya’s future after Uhuru Kenyatta — son of Kenya’s first prime minister Jomo Kenyatta — completes his second term as president and promises to retire.

Ruto, the current deputy president, and Raila, the former prime minister, stare down from massive billboards along the highways. Campaigning is serious business and like elsewhere it showcases Kenya’s culture – brightly coloured vehicles with dancers and blaring music lumber along the highways; small crowds gather to cheer them on.

Politics won't change economics

Kenyans seem to take their elections seriously, but nobody believes economic policies of a country that has Africa’s highest GDP would change with the transition. Business would continue, says Vimal Shah, one of the richest Kenyans.

“Politically, all are aligned. All (election) manifestos are economic,” he tells a hall filled with angel investors and young start-ups owners from Africa ready with pitches and yearning to make deals.

Indeed, Kenya mostly seems to be in a good place. It is a key technology hub of the vast continent and strong education systems ensure there are enough young people available to service the space. Its 53 million people are as aspirational as others in the continent.

A businessman from Uganda is happy telling me he has no problems with the Chinese, accused by many of trying to grab economies through cheap loans and other influences. A new 472-km rail line that connects Nairobi to Mombasa has cost Kenyans $3 billion of the Chinese money, raising fears of a debt-trap. It has also reduced travel time between the two cities by half and lowered cost of transportation.

There is very little information about Africa out there, rues Shah, adding that there are massive angel investment opportunities in the continent where hungry youngsters were like those in other parts of the world.

Indeed, as smart young men and women introduce their business ideas to potential investors in a crowded hall, they are direct in their ask. They want money, and they aren’t ashamed of asking because what they bring to the table are great ideas that could generate dividends for all.

Shah, himself an entrepreneur who built and runs a massive FMCG business, says there are enough like him in Kenya. They all probably learn their management and leadership lessons from the animals in Masai Mara at the feet of the sleeping Masai – a vast trundling hill on the Kenyan side of the flatlands.

“Eat lunch, or be lunch,” says Shah, pointing to the fact that the first wildebeest to decide to cross the crocodile-filled Mara River from Serengeti is an entrepreneur, a leader.

It takes the chance knowing fully well that it is probably being set up for failure – right into the yawning mouth of a large crocodile waiting by the riverside for a year to gobble it.

The herd then follows!